CVE-2021-28604
📋 TL;DR
Adobe After Effects versions 18.2 and earlier contain a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability when parsing malicious files. An attacker can exploit this to execute arbitrary code with the victim's privileges, requiring the user to open a specially crafted file. This affects all users running vulnerable versions of Adobe After Effects.
💻 Affected Systems
- Adobe After Effects
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise via arbitrary code execution with the current user's privileges, potentially leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or lateral movement.
Likely Case
Malware installation or data exfiltration after a user opens a malicious After Effects project file.
If Mitigated
No impact if users avoid opening untrusted files or if the system is patched.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (opening a malicious file) but no authentication. No public exploit code is known.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 18.2.1 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/after_effects/apsb21-49.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Adobe Creative Cloud application. 2. Navigate to the 'Apps' tab. 3. Find Adobe After Effects and click 'Update'. 4. Restart After Effects after installation completes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict file execution
allConfigure application control to block execution of untrusted After Effects project files.
User awareness training
allTrain users to only open After Effects files from trusted sources.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application whitelisting to block After Effects execution entirely.
- Use network segmentation to isolate systems running vulnerable versions.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Adobe After Effects version via Help > About After Effects. If version is 18.2 or earlier, it is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Windows: Check version in Help > About After Effects. On macOS: Check version in After Effects > About After Effects.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 18.2.1 or later in Help > About After Effects.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes of After Effects with memory access violations
- Unusual process creation from After Effects
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from After Effects to suspicious IPs
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent process is After Effects and command line contains suspicious parameters